The Jupiter Merlin Portfolios have retained a high cash weighting for several months, helping them avoid some of the damage that equity markets have had to weather. The current market climate is one of fear and panicWhile no one can say when confidence will return, there are plenty of indicators that encourage us to believe that we are currently in the eye of the storm and that right now is a very bad time to disinvest. Bear markets typically last about 18 months, so this one is quite long in the tooth and has already cut deep into equity market valuations.Amid this painful process of de-leveraging and bail-out of the fi nancial system, our underlying managers are identifying a host of companies that they believe will emerge from this crisis stronger than when they entered it and are likely to make for sound long-term investments.We have taken advantage of market weakness to add to our favoured holdings in the belief that they are well positioned to take advantage of recessionary conditions. We feel that we are in good company. Warren Buffett and veteran fund manager Anthony Bolton have both invested selectively in recent weeks.At the same time, we continue to hold a portion of the portfolios in cash, keeping some of our powder dry, as there will undoubtedly be further opportunities to deploy it in the coming months.
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